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Woman charged for alleged involvement in liquor stealing spree across Kitsap that started on Bainbridge

A 23-year-old Seattle woman who is suspected of helping two other women steal bottles of liquor from the Bainbridge Island Safeway and other supermarkets across Kitsap County is facing charges of retail theft in Kitsap County District Court.

Ronisha Charnae Wyndon was charged with two felonies; organized retail theft in the second degree, and retail theft with extenuating circumstances in the third degree.

Authorities claim that Wyndon and two other women targeted Safeway stores in Kitsap County. The trio allegedly worked as a team and took hundreds of dollars in alcohol from groceries in Silverdale, Bainbridge Island, East Bremerton and Port Orchard by placing bottles of booze in their shoulder bags and then walking out of the stores.

According to court documents, the crime spree spanned a little more than a week and started on Aug. 27, 2012 at a Safeway in Silverdale.

Authorities said a group of three women entered the grocery store on Bucklin Hill Road and put approximately $327 worth of alcohol in their should bags and walked out without paying for the liquor.

The shoplifting went undetected until a store manager investigating other alcohol thefts found the same three women were apparently responsible for the crimes.

A few days later, on Aug. 30, a store manager at the Bainbridge Island Safeway said the same three women came into the store and took $1,200 worth of alcohol by putting it in their large shoulder bags and walking out.

Less than an hour later, the trio allegedly took liquor valued at $854 from the shelves at the Silverdale Safeway, and about 15 minutes later, they allegedly stole $1,500 worth of alcohol from a Safeway store in East Bremerton.

Police said the same three women entered a Safeway in Port Orchard the following night and took approximately $1,000 worth of liquor.

A few nights later, according to court documents, the trio of women returned to the Bainbridge Safeway just before 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 2, 2012 and put 11 bottles of booze valued at $615 into their shoulder bags and walked out. They used the same technique about a half an hour later at an Albertson's in Poulsbo, and left with six bottles of vodka worth $268.

Police said that before the night was over, the women returned to the East Bremerton Safeway and stole more liquor.

Thirty minutes later, the trio allegedly went to the Bremerton Safeway and tried to make off with $800 in alcohol, but were confronted by a store manager who had seen the threesome pictured on warning bulletins by the supermarket chain that had been posted at the store.

Less then 30 minutes later, the three women were spotted by the store manager in the Port Orchard Safeway putting bottles of alcohol into their shoulder bags.

The threesome put the liquor back after realizing a store employee had seen them, according to court papers, but the trio were stopped by Port Orchard police in the parking lot of the store.

Officers later found bottles of stolen alcohol in the women's vehicle.

Police said they also found a ferry receipt in the car and believe the trio took the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge "and began making their way from the north end of the county to the south end while stopping at stores and stealing liquor."

Authorities said they reviewed video and store surveillance images from the Bainbridge, Silverdale, East Bremerton, Port Orchard and Poulsbo grocery stores that showed the same three women involved in each of the thefts. Authorities estimated the value of the stolen liquor to total at least $5,764.

Wyndon was booked into Kitsap County Jail on Monday, Jan. 6.

Bail has been set at $25,000 for the theft charges, with additional bail of $1,050 for a previous failure to appear in court on misdemeanor charges.

Both felony retail theft counts carry a maximum five-year prison term and $10,000 fine upon conviction.

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